The lunchtime conversation washed over me in waves.

I must have either done a reasonable job of concealing it, or my father and the other two scientists we were sitting with were more involved in their discussion than I realised. But whatever the reason, they didn't seem to notice me zoning out while we were eating.

I'd already known that Tobi's genetic code would be over the seventy-five percent threshold that would brand him as Katki, but I hadn't expected the fragile-looking angel to register quite so high on the savagery scale.

No matter how delicate he currently looked, at ninety-six percent, I needed to ensure I had extra precautions in place for what I was about to unleash in my home. Even if the scale was an indication of violent tendencies and not of physical strength, I still wanted to prepare myself for the worst.

After our lunch break was over, I discreetly searched through the nearby labs that I had access to for a punch-injector. The small piece of equipment was a non-invasive tool used instead of a syringe for pushing medication into a patient quickly, so that skin wouldn't have to be pierced to administer it. It wasn't quite as effective at administering drugs as a penetrative method, so it was usually used instead of a needle for patients who were either adverse to injections or who needed the process to be over quickly.

In Tobi's case, I reasoned, it would be the safer of the two options in a struggle if it came to it.

I was pleased to discover several punch-injectors in one of the cupboards I explored and decided to borrow one of them. Sliding it subtly into my pocket, I silently promised to return it once my objective was achieved.

The next thing I'd need was a sedative with a high enough dose to render Tobi unconscious, but only for a short time, maybe an hour or two.

Later in the afternoon, excusing myself for a toilet break, I strolled confidently down the corridor and slipped into the nearby reference room. It was a small library or sorts, which contained documents, files, and records of various kinds in a well-ordered layout. I knew it also contained informative books with formulas for all sorts of chemical compounds, and I wasted no time in finding the commonly used medication that I needed.

Scribbling down the chemical formula for the safe and appropriate sedative and tucking it securely into my pocket beside the punch-injector, I made my way back to my workstation. Every now and again, in between analysing blood samples, I cautiously checked that the various chemicals I needed to create my chosen sedative were available in either this laboratory or the one next door. Thankfully they were, and I told myself that one of my aims for tomorrow would be to create enough of the drug I needed to ensure I could subdue the beast I'd be liberating in a few days' time.

At the end of my working day, I arrived home to find my lounge looking somewhat barren and Tobi reading the Isaac Asimov book I'd given him previously. He didn't look up as I entered. The two storage boxes were on the lounge floor filled with my ornaments and trinkets, including photos with glass frames, all neatly padded as per my request.

Tiger meandered round my legs as I approached the Katki. Placing the bookmark between the pages he was on, I let him know it was time to stop reading and to follow me to the kitchen.

"Looks like you've done a great job today," I told him as I reached into the fridge and pulled out the leftover stew from our lunch the previous day. "Would you mind reheating this for our dinner, please, while I take the storage boxes out to the shed?"

Tobi reached for the stew, and I took that as confirmation that he'd manage dinner.

After packing the ornaments into the shed, I retrieved two more storage boxes to pack up the remaining items, with the intention of Tobi tackling the upstairs rooms the following day. I made sure Tiger had her food, before we all sat down with warm bowls of the succulent stew.

"I'm planning to make a sedative for you tomorrow," I told Tobi while we ate dinner. "But I only plan to use it if I need to. So, if you remember any of this conversation next week, I want you to know that I just want to talk to you and nothing more. I'm not planning to hurt you, it's just a precaution in case anything gets physical."

Tobi continued to eat in silence.

Not that I'd expected anything else.

After we finished, I asked Tobi to wash up and then read, while I started to create a rudimentary alarm system with the bells, pulleys and levers I'd purchased from the trade district.

I grumbled to myself that this would be easier with electronics. Although such technology existed, its use had been restricted by the Andekas family, as had any means of mass communication. Electronics were permitted for heating, lighting, cooking and food storage only. Households were limited to one screen that was used by the Andekas to transmit broadcasts, so that the prominent family could let us know about communal events or give us general information.

I understood why. We'd been taught that the Great War had partly come about because of propaganda and lies that had been easily conveyed to entire populations using mass communication devices. I could see how that could easily happen, and that the Andekas were just safeguarding us by ensuring that history didn't repeat itself.

Still, some of that technology would have been useful today.

After about an hour, I'd only managed to alarm the lounge window with the bells and decided to leave the rest for later in the week.

Besides, there was something else I wanted to try tonight, especially since the lounge was now free of breakables.

"Tobi," I called to my companion, and he looked up from the book. "Please could you save your place in the story and join me?"

My understanding was that the genetic markers that I dealt with in the laboratory purely identified violent tendencies and were not an indicator of inherent power or ability.

Still, I didn't think it would hurt to test that theory. By asking Tobi to go into combat me with as much power as he could, I speculated that it may give me a better gauge of whether I'd be able to restrain him purely from a strength aspect.

"Do you feel pain?" I asked him as he stood obediently in front of me.

"I do."

"Do you recognise when you're feeling pain?"

"I do."

"All right," I replied, reassured that what I wanted might be possible. "I'd like to try something, but we need to ensure we stop before either of us gets seriously hurt. In a moment, when I say the word 'go,' I want you to try to overpower me. If I want you to stop, I'll indicate this using the word, 'stop.' If you hear that word, I want you to stand down. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Equally, if I'm hurting you, I want you to say the word 'stop,' which will let me know I need to let you go, and then you stand down. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Before we start, I want you to know that my intention is not to hurt you. I just want to understand what precautions I might need to put in place for when you come off the Ravim. So, on my mark, try your best to overpower me." I took a deep breath and steadied myself. "Go."

Tobi immediately pulled his arm back, fisted his hand and launched himself at me as instructed.

Although his fist connected with my jaw, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared it might be. I grabbed his wrist and twisted him round, holding his wrist behind his back relatively easily. His other elbow pulled back and thumped me in the stomach, but I linked my arm through his and ended up with both of his arms pulled firmly behind his back so that although he was wriggling, he couldn't move.

I had him restrained, which was the point of the exercise.

Noting how easily he was defeated, I let him go so that he could try again.

The moment I released my grip on him, he spun round and kicked me as hard as he could. However, there was no real damage caused, and, tucking my leg under the back of his to make him unstable, I had him lying on the floor and restrained within seconds.

We continued sparring for another fifteen minutes or so after that. Each time I encouraged Tobi to come at me harder and demonstrate any tactics he knew.

But it soon became evident that even if it turned out he was aggressive, he wasn't a fighter, which put my mind more at ease about releasing him from his perfunctory state.

"OK, stop," I conceded, and Tobi obeyed immediately. "Are you hurt in any way?"

Even though I'd asked him to tell me to stop our scuffle if I'd injured him, I thought it was prudent to check.

"I'm not," he responded blandly, looking through me with those cold crystal eyes.

"Good," I nodded, satisfied that I'd been able to curtail his efforts without damaging him in any way.

Given that we still had plenty of cake left from my mother from yesterday, I decided to treat us to a slice each with some herbal tea.

That evening as we got ready for bed, I decided that if I was going to be following through with this investigation, I should record my findings.

So, while Tobi was brushing his teeth, I started a journal, which I knew would be able to be concealed neatly in a compartment in the bottom drawer of my dresser. My first entry consisted of describing what I was attempting to do and noting that even if Tobi had a vicious temperament, it appeared he didn't have the brawn or the knowledge with which to implement it.

I just hoped that the Ravim wasn't a suppressor of strength as well as aggressive predispositions.